


Happy

by MercurySkies



Series: A Ghoul's Guide to Life, Death & Afterliving [4]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 01:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14683863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurySkies/pseuds/MercurySkies
Summary: 'Shane knows he’s been planning something for a while now, somehow not subtle at all about his surprise plans this time around and Shane has known something is going on for weeks. It’s entirely unnecessary, he’s only 32, not exactly a big milestone. Except it sort of is, because his 32nd birthday should’ve really been a year ago.'It's Shane's first birthday since returning to the land of the living and as far as he's concerned he has it all.





	Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Another addition to the [A Ghoul’s Guide to Life, Death & Afterliving](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13319340) series.  
> This fic was originally intended as the Epilogue to the main story but it didn't really need it. A little oneshot about Shane's birthday, he's second 32nd.

“You do know I can trip over stuff now right?” Shane says as he makes his way across the parking lot blindfolded. Why exactly he couldn’t be blindfolded once safely situated in Ryan’s car he doesn’t know but he lets Ryan guide him by the hand, heart fluttering at the care he takes in making sure Shane doesn’t in fact trip over his own grasshopper legs and brain himself on the concrete. “Yeah I watch you almost trip and fall at least seven times a day. I don’t understand how you can still be so graceful on those bone stilts when they’re your main cause of injury.” Ryan replies, voice light and tinged with laughter. He’s excited, more so maybe than Shane is and it’s Shane’s birthday. Shane knows he’s been planning something for a while now, somehow not subtle at all about his surprise plans this time around and Shane has known something is going on for weeks. It’s entirely unnecessary, he’s only 32, not exactly a big milestone. Except it sort of is, because his 32nd birthday should’ve really been a year ago. They’ll probably celebrate the night he came back as well, but that’ll always be just for them.

“Aww Ry you think I’m graceful?” He says as he climbs awkwardly into the car. He tilts his head in the direction of the driver’s seat as he hears Ryan settle next to him. “That’s what you got from that? Nothing else?” He laughs and with his lack of sight the sound of it seems amplified, chiming like a bell. “Gotta look on the bright side baby!” He coos. Ryan chuckles and suddenly there are hands on his cheeks tilting his face to the left. He breathes in through his nose as Ryan kisses him, sweet and aching and _wow_ okay being kissed with the blindfold on might be doing things to him he hadn’t exactly anticipated. He hums against his mouth, lips tingling and honestly he knows Ryan’s put a lot of effort into whatever is going down this afternoon but he’d be totally fine with going back upstairs and having a repeat performance of this morning. Shane’s a simple man and Ryan’s mouth is a gift.

Ryan laughs at him as he tries to deepen the kiss, pushing him back into his seat. It does nothing to the playful sparks of arousal burgeoning at the base of his spine but it _is_ his birthday. “Okay okay let’s get this show on the road.” He says and relaxes into his seat with a grin, the vibration of the engine setting his nerves alight as incandescent happiness drips through him like molasses.

 

* * *

 

Shane trips twice. Once trying to get out of Ryan’s too small clown car and again on the curb on his way up onto the sidewalk. Ryan leads him carefully, both hands in his, close enough that he can still feel his warmth. Shane feels silly but Ryan’s excitement is infectious and he finds himself giddy and giggly as he steps unsteadily onto grass. They’re obviously outside, a park most likely as a cool breeze blows through his hair and the spring sunshine warms him to the core. He can hear the sound of laughter and music until it suddenly cuts off and there’s a lot of shuffling and shushing as Ryan brings him to a stop. He laughs, nervous and squeaky, as Ryan’s fingers untie the knot of his blindfold. It falls away, black silk he hopes he’ll get to see again, and blinks against the harsh sunlight.

“Happy birthday!” Voices chorus and Shane steps back into Ryan’s arms, his hands coming up to cover his mouth as he laughs breathlessly. He feels tears sting at his eyes as he glances around at the smiling faces of friends and family. Ryan’s arms squeeze around his middle before he loops an arm around his waist, guiding him forward into the fray. Allie greets him first and she hugs him tight, asks him if he likes the surprise. He gazes around then, looking at all the bright smiling faces, the mountain of food on picnic tables, _the balloons_. “Oh my God!” He exclaims loudly, devolving into laughter at the sight of the cheerful ghost balloons. At the sound of his laughter Ryan appears, as if called by it. “He just noticed the balloons.” Allie says between giggles and Ryan lights up with a grin, clearly proud of himself and his little joke.

“Oh yeah!” Sara exclaims as if she’s only just noticed them to “Because of Unsolved right?” She asks. The smiles on Shane and Ryan’s faces are suspect but no one calls them out on it. “Right.” Ryan says as he leans up to kiss Shane on the cheek before sauntering away, some of their colleagues calling for him by the cooler. Shane watches him go, only looking away when he’s punched in the shoulder by TJ. “You’re completely gone on him dude.” He teases. Shane shrugs, trying to hide his blush by taking a swig of the beer Ryan had pushed into his hands. “Pretty much.” He says with a grin, unable to stop himself. “I’d go through hell and back for him.” He’s met with several confused faces until they all just shrug and assume he’s being a smitten fool.

“I can’t believe you tried to keep this on the down low at work.” TJ says smiling and gesturing to the pair as Ryan sidles up to Shane, slipping an arm around his waist. He knows he keeps coming back to check in with him, large groups of people for extended periods of time can still overwhelm him from time to time and it’s Ryan’s quiet way of letting him know he’s there for him if he needs him. He feels no unease though, the open space a good choice, the party consisting of only their close friends. No, he feels like this is barely real, like it’s more than he deserves. He knows Ryan can tell but he doesn’t say anything, knows that it’ll take Shane time to believe he’s worth just a fraction of this care and attention. “Hey!” Ryan’s voice chimes in indignant. He steals Shane’s beer but he doesn’t put up much more of a fight than raising his eyebrow and gesturing futilely. “You guys had no idea for like a month even though he showed up to work with me on his first day!”

“Yeah!” Shane joins in, feeling light and buoyed by the laughter in Ryan’s eyes. There’s only one thing he loves more than mocking Ryan, and that’s mocking others with Ryan by his side. “You’d get drunk at Friday night drinks and start holding hands under the table.” TJ fires back, rolling his eyes. “You guys ain’t slick.”

The afternoon passes in a warm haze of laughter, beer and cake. Shane is pulled from one conversation to another and he’s beaming from ear to ear in every picture and there are a lot of them. Allie charms every single one of the guests in attendance and she’s insistent on taking Polaroid after Polaroid of him and Ryan. He disappears for a while, a pile of Allie’s photographs in his hands and a mischievous look in his eye but Shane isn’t worried, just feels a flutter of endeared excitement as he watches his boyfriend walk away with a bounce in his step.

Shane is almost dizzy with it all, jittery with joy and elated energy. His laugh is loud, his smile so wide his cheeks are beginning to ache. There is the ever present buzz of anxiety, the whisper of ‘I don’t deserve this’ hissing in the back of his mind but it’s all but drowned out by the sounds of music and laughter. It’s the best birthday he’s ever had. He’s alive and breathing and in love, as far as he’s concerned he has it all. He takes a moment to breathe beneath the shade of a sprawling oak, the sun has taken on that golden hue as it moves late afternoon slowly into evening. He wants to savour this, the fact that everything has seemingly aligned perfectly to give him this tableau of warmth and life. He gets so wrapped up in it, gazing serenely at the scene in front of him that he startles when something brushes against his hand. He looks down to see Ryan’s fingertips brush against his own and he immediately takes his hand in his, placing a kiss against his knuckles. It’s saccharine and sappy even for them but Shane just feels so full. He is full to the brim with love and gratitude and he can’t think of any other way to let him know it. “Hey,” Ryan says quietly, holding something awkwardly behind his back, “come sit with me?” He asks and Shane nods, letting himself be tugged away from the party. Someone whistles at their retreating backs and Shane grins as he flips them off, not even bothering to look back at the culprit as the party goers burst into laughter.

They settle on a bench in the shade, quiet but for the sound of birdsong and the distant sounds of music, laughter and the ever present roar of traffic. “I know you’re about to give me a gift Ryan I thought we talked about this.” He admonishes but he can’t help but smile as Ryan pulls out a plain brown, leather photo album from behind his back, grinning from ear to ear. “I already gave you a gift this morning, you weren’t complaining then.” He replies wiggling his eyebrows. Shane certainly was _not_ complaining this morning. He swoops in to kiss him fleetingly, humming as he pulls back but stays close, pressed together from hip to shoulder. “Is that what we’re calling blowjobs now?” He quips before taking the album from Ryan’s hand and untying the string that holds it shut. Ryan just huffs out a laugh, warm breath fanning out across the skin of Shane’s neck as he rests his head on his shoulder. With slightly shaky hands Shane opens the album and almost closes it again. On the first page is the old Polaroid of Shane Allie had given to Ryan more than a year ago, his own smiling face beaming tiredly back at him from the slightly grainy photograph. Beneath it reads the words ‘From this lifetime...’

Silently he turns the pages, looking at various pictures from over the last year, photos of just the two of them, of Shane with friends and family, old and new. He’s sniffling quietly by the time he reaches the last page, overwhelmed by the sheer weight of love and support the album represents. The last page features a photo of the two of them. It’s an inelegant selfie taken by Ryan as they lay curled up together on the couch, Shane is asleep head lolled to the side, face buried in Ryan’s hair as his head rests on his chest, eyes closed and with the sweetest grin on his face. They look exhausted, and Shane remembers that they certainly felt it, they’d only just arrived home after an Unsolved shoot, sleep deprived and vaguely smelly. They also look ridiculous, Ryan’s hair is a mess and Shane’s mouth hangs open slightly in a soft snore but it’s real, the memory precious and vivid. The words ‘... To the next.’ are written beneath it. The phrase holds more meaning to them than anyone else could know. He closes the album carefully, reverently and closes his eyes, breathes deeply as Ryan presses a kiss to his jaw.

“When did you get so sentimental?” He asks, voice thick with tears but he smiles, relishing the shiver that runs through him as Ryan noses at his jaw. “It’s not everyday your boyfriend turns 32 for the second time.” Ryan says but there is a hitch to his breath that reveals he’s splitting open at the seams just like Shane is. Shane chuckles and opens his eyes as Ryan sits up, rubbing furtively at his eyes. Shane just looks at him, the dappled sunlight speckling his warm skin with flashes of burnished gold, his cheeks are red and his hair flattened and mussed by the passing breeze and from resting on Shane’s shoulder. He doesn’t get like this, not often. He isn’t particularly poetic, he never did write Ryan that sonnet but by God does he feel like he could. When he looks at Ryan he feels like he could do anything.

“I love you.” He says simply, reaching out for Ryan’s hand. He doesn’t know how to voice all that he feels in any other way, and feels frustration mount in him when the words never seem enough, they always sound wrong, lacking weight, lacking the conviction that he knows he feels but just can’t express. Ryan just smiles, rolls his eyes at him and tugs him unexpectedly from the bench. “I know.” He says, gaze soft. “C’mon.”

“Ryan, _Ryan_.” Shane says with a grin, jiggling their clasped hands and forcing Ryan to look at him. “You’ve still got that blindfold right?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! You can find me on tumblr [here](https://mercury-skies.tumblr.com/).


End file.
